Florida vs. UCLA- First Half Notes

-both teams start the game off playing very sloppy, indicated by the boxscore in terms of turnover numbers but also by a simple “eye test’; watching the game, one can observe the dysfunctional and messy play–it’s a frantic pace, that in the early-going, appeared more detrimental than productive for both teams (by the end of the first half, the teams have seven turnovers apiece)

-yet both the Gators and Bruins begin to settle into, and attain a feel for, the stage shortly after a sloppy set of opening minutes

UCLA composes itself first, even in time to grab a three-point lead at about seven minutes into the first half

effective and sharp ball movement on offense keys a Florida surge, allowing the Gators to impose themselves as the stronger team and the one which will seemingly possess the lead for the most part in this game; they embark on a 13-2 run in a 4:10 span midway through the opening half

-both UF and UCLA extremely willing to hoist up shots from seemingly anywhere near the three-point line; fits the “free style” exhibited by both squads in the opening half–UCLA starts to shy away from this tendency towards the end of the half

-despite a mid-first half surge by Florida, UCLA shows the ability to remain close with their opponents and fighting back from deficits it has faced; a balanced effort across the entire Bruin squad–six players have at least four points–has allowed it to keep pace with the tournament’s number one overall seed

-as the first half is in the books, Florida’s six-point advantage going into intermissions has come in large part due to three-point shooting–launching 13 shots from beyond the three-point line and converting five of them (compared to UCLA’s two), and a rebounding edge (a +7 margin in Florida’s favor)

-foul trouble (ten personal fouls for UCLA and eight for Florida) has also served as a hindrance to both teams’ tempos, possible bottling up explosiveness on both ends of the court